The Battle Hymn of the Aerobes

Mine eyes have seen the glory of respiratory chains
In every mitochondrion, intrinsic to membranes,
Functionally organized in complex sub-domains
Where electrons flow along.
Glory, Glory, respiration!
Glory, Glory, respiration!
Glory, Glory, respiration!
Where electrons flow along

Each chain is a mosaic of Complexes I to IV
Embedded in the lipid (which is what the lipid's for)
But that is not sufficient, there are two components more
Where electrons flow along

The first is a small cytochrome that rolls around the place
That's easily extractable from cytoplasmic face
That restores respiration if you just add back a trace,
Where electrons flow along

The other's a benzoquinone that is ubiquitous,
It floats around the lipid phase with hardly any fuss,
For mobile pooling function it's become synonymous,
Where electrons flow along

NADH to CoQ10's the job of Complex I,
It maintains a single flavin -- (and FMN is the one)
And all that non-heme iron can't just be there for fun,
Where electrons flow along

Succinate is oxidized by way of Complex II,
It starts off with FAD and it reduces Q,
And just to make it complex it's got non-heme iron too,
Where electrons flow along

From CoQ through Cytochrome c requires Complex III,
Its got c1 and iron too and two species of b,
There's an antimycin-binding site, core-proteins two or three,
Where electrons flow along

Finally to Complex IV where oxygen's reduced
Two coppers, a and a3 (which in yeast can be induced),
Fine end to the finest chain that Nature has produced,
Where electrons flow along